Your website is global representation of your business who spoke about your products and services and how to present them in an appealing and understandable way that generates traffic and sales.Having a effective website is crucial for business success.

Factors involved in deciding what design project is going to cost include:

1. Type of design — simple or complex

2. Host server space

3. The type of functionality you want including contact forms, log-in forms, drop down or navigation menus as opposed to a one-line navigation menu. Any other dynamic (animated elements) enhancements.

4. Maintenance

Still if your are seeking for any consultation regarding website design and its packages then take a small tour to FATbit.

Thank you for sharing about your company. If you have any questions that the community may be able to help you with, please feel free to post them on our discussion boards. Also, please peruse the discussion boards & chime in where ever you feel comfortable.

And other factors you might want to add include as a business person is your own personal experience in conveying requirements and time available to test and validate. These two are very critical pieces and if you don't really have much experience along those lines it might be better to start with building a rapport with someone who has a strong technical background who can take time to just learn and understand your business and then provide an effective framework for working with a vendor like FATbit.

I would say that depends on A) what is meant by "design" and B) What the intended objectives of the design are. If you are a business whose offerings are very far removed from being perceived as technology or marketing, where SEO is not important (and I know businesses that are that way) then you can probably do it yourself. But if you need your site to make a strong impression such as if you are a graphic design firm website design could be very important. It always starts with what the business need is and then you can decide whether or not it's important. I've done work for a company that has a very poor customer portal, but that didn't stop them from processing 3 billion dollars in credit card volume each year. Turns out, website design hasn't been very important to their business model as Peter suggests.

My business is based on web design and interactive services. I agree with chicagocio. There are businesses that can start without any "design" or moderate design. For instance if you are selling products via Amazon or Ebay all buyers will be interested in is your reputation and quality of your product. If your brand is a sub site from Amazon or Ebay then most likely you wont need a brand nor a designed website as these big e-tailers provide templates.

Now if you plan on marketing and be recognized a logo is not enough there's a book "A Brand New World" that covers how to make your company stand out. There are services that you can outsource or bid to college students for $300 but I highly recommend that if you take your business serious and expect your clients to take you serious and not as a mom and pop shop then a brand goes a long way to build on "bran loyalty". Your quality of service will determine how your brand is perceived no hip logo or website will help bad customer service.

What is the cost of web design. Hosting can range from $5/mo and up based on your needs and services. Your domain name will cost from 1.99 (when you find specials) up to $80 if you get some of the new extension names like .pro or .expert. These services tend to include a DIY website builder. So a yearly total DIY can be as low as $65/yr.

To Berta's question I hope I answered those who may not need a website. SEO has various factors. For starters the site has to be semantically coded correctly in order for search engines to find it. Content has to be relevant. You can pay to drive traffic but at the end organic SEO growth is what will improve your search results.

Fatbit has very reasonable prices and much lower than what I provide as a service. Most companies that I've dealt with with fixed pricing may not know 100% what your business goal is and after the design is approved and the website is implemented many companies turn to custom design as the bundled price like Fatbit may not contain all the requirement they expected.

Average price for design not including branding can range from $500 and up.

Your website is global representation of your business who spoke about your products and services and how to present them in an appealing and understandable way that generates traffic and sales.Having a effective website is crucial for business success.

Factors involved in deciding what design project is going to cost include:

1. Type of design — simple or complex

2. Host server space

3. The type of functionality you want including contact forms, log-in forms, drop down or navigation menus as opposed to a one-line navigation menu. Any other dynamic (animated elements) enhancements.

4. Maintenance

Still if your are seeking for any consultation regarding website design and its packages then take a small tour to FATbit.

Search for answers

Ask the community

Most of the time, you just want to find content that has a particular phrase. Here are the easiest ways to find the content you want.

Enclose your search phrase in quotes. Search will try to find content with those words in the order you enclosed them. A search for "marketing advice" is going to return content with the phrase "marketing advice".

Search for content that has certain words, but not necessarily all of the words in order. This is the most basic search. Simply enter your search terms. For example: accept credit cards This will search for documents containing the words accept, credit, and cards

Using OR. The OR operator links two terms and finds a matching document if either of the terms exist in a document. To search for documents that contain either "web design" or just "online marketing" use the query: "web design" OR "online marketing"

Using AND. The AND operator says that the search should return content in which all of the search terms are present. To search for documents that contain both "web design" and just "online marketing" use a search like this: "web design" AND "online marketing"

We would appreciate having your voice in the Small Business Community. You can participate in a number of ways.

Start a discussion in our member-to-member forums. By participating in the Small Business Community, our members gain knowledge and connections that give them a competitive advantage in building a successful business. Take advantage of the collective experience and expertise of the community to get small business ideas and help with a specific question or business challenge.

To post your question in our community, in the “Ask the community” section, from the drop-down, select the category that you’d like to post to, then click the “Start a Discussion” button. If you simply want to introduce yourself to the community, please select the “Introduce Yourself” category.

Note: you must be a logged-in member of the community to post a discussion. Please login or become a member to participate.

Share your small business story. Do you have an interesting story to tell related to your small business? Have some advice for other entrepreneurs to help them avoid some of the pitfalls of small business ownership? We invite you to share your story with the Small Business Community. Click the “Share Your Story” link and simply answer the questions in our Share Your Story template.

Answer a question. Are you an expert in a particular area of running and growing a successful small business? Would you like to help other small business entrepreneurs by answering their questions? We would appreciate your expertise in the Small Business Community. Please click the “Answer a Question” link to see a list of the open questions asked by members of the community.

Bank of America is not responsible for user posts and other user content appearing on this website and does not endorse or guarantee the perspectives, the advice, the users, the businesses, or the products or services sold by any users or businesses that appear on this website.